Crew sets off 900-firework display in Hendersonville

Saturday

Jul 5, 2014 at 12:23 AM

After a 10-year stint making, driving, wrecking and rebuilding cars for demolition derbies across North Carolina, Jason Vaughan found a new, more financially practical way to live on the edge working as a pyrotechnician.

By RENEE BINDEWALDTimes-News Staff Writer

After a 10-year stint making, driving, wrecking and rebuilding cars for demolition derbies across North Carolina, Jason Vaughan found a new, more financially practical way to live on the edge working as a pyrotechnician.The 33-year-old began working for Zambelli Fireworks three years ago when his father-in-law's best friend got started. It didn't take long for Vaughan and his wife to join in.The Vaughans and their team arranged and operated the 900-firework display in Jackson Park on Friday. The couple work during the week for Locklin's Garage in Denver, N.C., but spend their holidays together traveling around to set up and run firework displays.Planning for a day like the Fourth of July begins two to three weeks before the event when the fireworks arrive for Vaughan's team to put together and divide between the other display operators in his area. Each box contains a different combination of explosives with a description of what the display will look like, and then it's up to the operator to decide the order and length of the show.This year they split up the fireworks for five shows across the state. Vaughan's father-in-law was sent to the coast while another driver was just up the road in Arden.“I never expected to get involved with it, but I have a lot of fun doing it,” Tara Vaughan said. “We do it for the people watching.”The day of, they begin around 8 a.m., unloading large wooden racks which hold the tubes the fireworks are loaded into. Each tube stands roughly a yard high and are either 3 or 6 inches in diameter depending on how big the display will be.When the explosives arrive, the team begins the process of carefully packing them into the tubes and cover everything with a tarp to keep moister out until it is time for the show.While they wait, the Vaughans and their crew kick back and have their own little cookout—far, far away from the explosives.Jason Vaughan said the No. 1 thing to always keep in mind is safety, from making sure people stay off the tops of the tubes, keeping track of what the weather is doing to keeping crowds at a safe distance away from debris, but even before the show begins Jason Vaughan has to make sure to keep a close eye on everything.“When a cardboard box hits sand or gravel or dirt that's on the floor of the truck it causes friction,” Jason Vaughan said. “Those little sparks will actually light the dust inside the boxes from the fireworks and that's what causes explosions. Either that or people throwing them around and its explosives—you don't throw explosives around.”Tara Vaughan said that to be a pyrotechnician you have to be a little crazy because it takes someone who is willing to take risks, but her husband said the rush is what makes it so much fun.“It's not every day you get to throw $10,000 worth of somebody else's money up into the air and explode it,” Jason Vaughan said. “It's an adrenaline rush, but you have got to catch yourself and I got two new guys, so I am going to have to catch them too.”During the show, Jason Vaughan said he has to make sure his crew doesn't get flare-happy and set off the fireworks too soon, causing the fireworks to overlap, shortening the show's time.The finale is a series of tubes packed with fireworks, setting off a chain reaction. As one goes off, it sets off the next. Then just as smoke starts to clear, Jason Vaughan has to go back through by himself as the display operator and check each individual tube to make sure they are empty and nothing is left smoking.“It's another 15 minutes before I can let anyone on the site after I've checked it and then 30 minutes before we can tear it down and put it in the truck,” Jason Vaughan said. “It's pretty commonsense stuff; we don't want it burning down going down the road.”The couple said after three years of shooting off fireworks together, they're not looking to stop anytime soon.___Reach Bindewald at renee.bindewald@blueridgenow.com or 828-697-7890.